The heavy rains expected on Saturday in Spielberg could greatly disrupt the running of the Styrian Grand Prix.
If some were worried about a second Grand Prix too like the first on the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg’s capricious weather could take care of avoiding such a scenario. Indeed, if the good weather reigns this Friday on the Austrian track, the forecasts for the day of Saturday are rather alarmist. Thunderstorms and heavy rain could fall on the track located 700 meters above sea level in the mountains of Styria.
These forecasts have led the FIA and the teams to already consider several scenarios, including that in which no driving would be possible on Saturday, the day of qualifying. If the session scheduled for 3 p.m. could not take place because of a soggy track, plan B would be to shift it to Sunday morning, as has already happened in the past. A priori, the weather forecast for Sunday is more lenient, but in the event that the session could not be disputed either, the lap times of the second free practice session would prevail to establish the starting grid.
The teams are aware of the situation and will have to take this parameter into consideration this Friday afternoon if they do not want to leave anything to chance. The subject was discussed on Thursday during a meeting with the team managers and the race director Michael Masi sent them an official note.
“We have already received the information from the race director, who warns us that there is a risk of not having a meeting tomorrow due to thunderstorms and heavy rain”, confirmed this morning Andreas Seidl, director of McLaren. “It’s still open and if that happened, there would be a qualification on Sunday morning or, in the worst case if it’s not possible due to bad weather, then the EL2 would count as the result of This is something that we have to watch out for today and we have to figure out how to deal with it. “
With Jonathan Noble and Adam Cooper
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